Being Happy

[AnthroHeart]

Is being happy really a choice? Do we have to look inward for happiness and fulfillment?
Because there are things external to me that bring me joy.

Unless nothing is really external to us.

But a lot of times I have trouble being happy.

[anagogy]

I think in some theoretically technical and abstract way happiness is always a choice. And you are correct that nothing is really external and that it is just an illusion.  

But realistically, I think there are simply going to be conditions and times where the odds are severely against it due to our lack of spiritual discipline.

Sometimes there is just too much momentum of thought in the direction of unwanted experiences.

I think in those circumstances you just have to do the best you can with what you have. Meaning, make an attempt to at least casually lean in the direction of better feeling thoughts/emotions. Even if one doesn't have the choice in this given moment of being happy because of harsh life circumstances for example, there is still the choice of: [slighty worse interpretation of events] and [slightly better interpretation of events]. And that choice, though it may seem small and insignificant, is the stepping stone or gateway to the next better thought, and the next better thought, and the next better thought. It is a continuum of experience ranging from: [miserable<--------------->awesome].

But much like traveling anywhere, you don't get to your destination if you don't start putting one foot in front of the other. Small progress is *STILL* progress.

I also think it helps occasionally to just give yourself permission to be 'where you are', even if its emotionally terrible. Sometimes to transcend the depression you have to let go of the pressure to get out of it. If the feeling of 'pressure' was the source of the depression, letting go of that would be the gateway thought to the next more positive mental/emotive space. Personally, I try not to over analyze it, I generally just make a modest attempt to reach for a feeling of "relief", and let that emotion guide my actions rather than attempt to 'figure it out', which usually just fails.

[Minyatur]

Is your problem to not be happy or to be struggling with being unhappy?

[AnthroHeart]

Is your problem to not be happy or to be struggling with being unhappy?

I wouldn't say it's a problem. Depression is who I am at times.

I haven't thought before of ways to escape this. Sure, music and movies help me greatly.
But I get sad because I don't have their life.

I'm not the happiest, but I'm not in despair either. I'm nowhere near rapture.

I like that I can just work on relief, getting a little bit better.

I don't struggle with being unhappy really. I'm just a confused individual, and that's a source of grief.

[Minyatur]

As anagogy said, allowing yourself to be 'where you are' seems what would be most helpful to you.

It's fine to feel as you feel, and as you make small steps toward the positive, one day you'll look back and see you'll have made quite a lot of steps and that positive change did take place with time in greater ways. I think sometimes what is most harmful is to put expectations on yourself, because then you come short on loving yourself if you don't meet them.

Being depressed at times, feeling sad, striving for things, those are all things that can make a soul quite beautiful, they are emotions of Love and you wouldn't feel any of those if you didn't have love within yourself.

[AnthroHeart]

I guess we should cherish these times, because they won't be there in 4D.

[Minyatur]

I guess we should cherish these times, because they won't be there in 4D.

One day being sad will be but a fancy thought and the times we've been sad will be worthful memories that taught us about Love.

[AnthroHeart]

Artists who draw things I like make me happy.
Certain music inspires me.
Certain movies do too.
I love my wolfdog.
I like foxes.
There's a lot to be grateful for.

Isn't it amazing that the artists I admire exist within me as Creator? So it's like I'm doing all this neat art.

[Minyatur]

They are the reflection of your own infinite potential of being.

It is neat. Anywhere you look, you see yourself.

[AnthroHeart]

They are the reflection of your own infinite potential of being.

It is neat. Anywhere you look, you see yourself.

Is that only in the Ra material philosophy, or did others such as Buddha teach that?

[ada]

You are able to tap/manifest unconditional/limitless love at any given moment. i am currently practicing this, you need no thoughts or images, not even mditation, just focus on the feeling of love and combie it with your breathing.
You are in control of all your emotions/feelings.
I send love to you.

[AnthroHeart]

Is love just a feeling? Will we recognize it by how it feels?

[ada]

Feeling is rather the distortion of love. I cannot describe as I will simply run out of words to use.

[AnthroHeart]

I wonder if Love can manifest other realities.

[Minyatur]

I wonder if Love can manifest other realities.

Love does all of the things.

[AnthroHeart]

How do we command Love? Or use its power?

[Minyatur]

How do we command Love? Or use its power?

I'm not sure if you have experienced lucid dreaming, in which your thought can manifest in reality either easily or sometimes through efforts.

Well this is also a dream in which your can manifest your thoughts, but it is a very heavy kind of dreams, very stable in it's reality to create this kind of experience of the Creator of Itself. Your emotions give power to your thoughts, or rather gives them weight upon reality.

[AnthroHeart]

The only lucid dreams I've had I had no real control. Nor could I really move. I almost had an OBE once, but I was stuck in my body.

I believe that emotion can influence our reality. I just wish the impossible were possible, like visiting other universes.

[ada]

Also never forget the first distortion of the Law of One that is free will. From this come many, many other distortions that keep you on bay in reality. eg. fear, doubt, belief, trust etc.

[AnthroHeart]

I feel good now. A little rum and coke takes the edge off.

Wait, does free will mean we potentially have the power to do *ANYTHING*?

[ada]

I feel good now. A little rum and coke takes the edge off.

Wait, does free will mean we potentially have the power to do *ANYTHING*?

Free will/confusion is what keeps you from doing *ANYTHING*.

[AnthroHeart]

I need a Tulpa badly.

[AnthroHeart]

There was a time when I asked Ra to please kill me. And another time when I thought I was at the top of Ra's wanted list. They both were unpleasant times.